The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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WASHINGTON, Thursday—Yesterday afternoon the King of Greece was received at the White House on the South Lawn by the President and his Cabinet, with Justice Stone and Congressional Representatives attending. I was very proud of the formal salute given by our Army and Navy boys and the playing of the two national anthems by the Navy Band. It made a very charming ceremony of welcome.

We sat on the South Porch, had tea and talked for a little while. The dinner in the evening was entirely official. The President, both last night and this morning, had an opportunity to get to know this ruler of a country which is today undergoing such terrible hardships. Of all the countries in Europe, Greece seems to be suffering more from lack of food than any other.

From everywhere one hears the same story of an attitude on the part of the invaders, which would indicate that they are made of wood and not of flesh and blood. When I read this morning, the story of the Czecho-Slovakian village which had been entirely wiped out, I could not help wondering at the psychology of a people who believe you can crush a nation by such tactics.

Every woman and child taken from that village to a concentration camp will carry in their hearts a hatred which can never turn into tolerance for the people or the system, which assumes that through such brutality one can force people to acceptance of a conqueror and forgetfulness of the methods used in subjugation.

Mrs. Martin Vogel came to see me the other afternoon to tell me a little about the work which the Home Hospitality Committee, now numbering 56, has been doing during the spring. Over one hundred hostesses, Mrs. Vogel told me, have entertained service men in their homes. More than a thousand men have been to these parties which have ranged from an invitation to two men to take Sunday dinner, to a buffet supper for two hundred.

Many boys have been found with talents—painters, composer musicians, singers—so they have often contributed as much to the pleasure of the company as the hosts themselves. This committee is inviting girls from government departments to attend their parties. In this way, they give pleasure and hospitality to two groups of young people who really need it. They have also raised some money and furnished some of the camp dayrooms with radios and small comforts which were not available before.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 12, 1942

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
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Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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